···11-# Initial Red Dwarf Open Source Release
22-i made red dwarf in three days
11+# Red Dwarf
22+Red Dwarf is a Bluesky client that does not use any AppView servers, instead it gathers the data from [Constellation](https://constellation.microcosm.blue/) and each users' PDS.
3344-it isnt really that well made
55-(go take a look at `UniversalPostRenderer.tsx`)
44+
55+66+huge thanks to [Microcosm](https://microcosm.blue/) for making this possible
6777-further development is pending
88-(especially around future plans for user-resolved constellation instances)
88+## useQuery
99+Red Dwarf has been upgraded from its original bespoke caching system to Tanstack Query (react query). this migration was done to achieve a more robust and maintainable approach to data fetching and caching and state synchronization. ive seen serious performance gains from this switch!
9101010-huge thanks to Constellation ([Microcosm](https://microcosm.blue/)) for making this possible
1111+all core data fetching logic is now centralized in `src/utils/useQuery.ts` and exposed as a collection of custom react hooks. theres two basic types of custom hooks, the use-once, and the inifinite query ones (used for paginated requests like feed skeletons and listrecord)
11121213## UniversalPostRenderer
1314its a mega component rooted in my Masonry "[TestFront](https://testfront-87q.pages.dev/)" project. its goal is simple: have one component render everything. it has several shims to normalize different post data formats into a single format the component can handle. unlike TestFront, it has no animations, though some weird component splits might linger from the old version.
14151516to adapt TestFront's bsky-api-based `UniversalPostRenderer` to Red Dwarf's model of fetching records directly from each user's PDS and then querying constellation for backlinks, i wrap it in `UniversalPostRendererATURILoader`, which handles raw record and backlink fetching. to bridge the gap between bsky api shapes like `PostView` and the raw record, i use `UniversalPostRendererRawRecordShim`. this way, the core `UniversalPostRenderer` remains the same between TestFront and Red Dwarf (with the only difference being in the red dwarf version the framer motion animations are removed).
16171818+## Microcosm
1919+### Constellation
2020+the beating heart of Red Dwarf, the backlink index that provides contextual information not available from direct PDS queries. Every post's likes, replies, and reposts all come from constellation. Unfortunately i wasnt using tanstack query at the time (compared to its intensive use in the old version of ForumTest) so it is not using any caching
2121+2222+### Slingshot
2323+though Red Dwarf was made before Microcosm [Slingshot](https://slingshot.microcosm.blue) existed, it now uses Slingshot to reduce load from each respective PDS server. Slignshot
17241825## PassAuthProvider
1926a really bad app-password auth provider, inherited from TestFront and used in all my projects from TestFront to ForumTest (im very good at naming things). in ForumTest, its been superseded by the [OAuthProvider](https://tangled.sh/@whey.party/forumtest/blob/main/src/providers/OAuthProvider.tsx). i havent backported it here and maybe soon, although oauth makes it slightly more annoying to do development because it requires a tunnel so maybe someday if i managed to merge the password and oauth logins to provide both options
2020-2121-## Constellation
2222-the beating heart of Red Dwarf, the backlink index that provides contextual information not available from direct PDS queries. Every post's likes, replies, and reposts all come from constellation. Unfortunately i wasnt using tanstack query at the time (compared to its intensive use in the old version of ForumTest) so it is not using any caching
2323-2424-Red Dwarf was made before Microcosm [Slingshot](https://slingshot.microcosm.blue) existed, and it would be a very good idea to migrate to it in the future maybe (to reduce load from individual PDS servers)
25272628## Custom Feeds
2729they work, but i havent implemented a simple way of viewing arbitraty feeds. currently it either loads discover (logged out) or your saved feeds (logged in) and its not a technical limitation i just havent implemented it yet
···3436and for list feeds, you can just use something like graze or skyfeed to input a list of users and output a custom feed
35373638## Tanstack Router
3737-it does the job, nothing very specific was used here3939+it does the job, nothing very specific was used here
4040+4141+im planning to use the loader system on select pages to prevent loss of scroll positon and state though its really complex so i havent done it yet but the migration to tanstack query is a huge first step towards this goal